Sustainability continues to be a focus for Rwanda, especially when flights are returning to full capacity, Linda Mutesi, Head of Tourism & Conservation, Rwanda Development Board (RDB), tells TTN in an exclusive interview. The RDB conducted a destination workshop early last month at Conrad Hotel Dubai with key travel trade from the region and partners from the east African nation.
“Even prior to the pandemic, ecotourism and sustainability was our focus. If anything, the pandemic has strengthened our resolve to be sustainable in our actions and investments,” Mutesi tells us. “We have always limited capacities at specific national parks and will we continue to do. For instance, to visit the mountain gorillas, you have to be part of a group of six. When you visit the gorillas, you watch them for just an hour, and return to base.
“If anything, the pandemic has strengthened our resolve to be sustainable in our actions and investments”
– Linda Mutesi
“From the consumer side, we're seeing that people want to have more meaningful experiences, which we readily have as a destination,” she says.
With its stunning sceneries and incredible wildlife, the land of a thousand hills, Rwanda, is the home to many primates including the last remaining mountain gorillas. “We have primates, the big five, in Akagera National Park. Nyungwe National Park offers nature adventures such as hikes, a canopy walkway, primates. Volcanoes National Park is where we offer our gorilla tracking tours. We also have some cultural offerings and museums that look into our traditions and our past. The capital Kigali, which is a city bustling with activity, offers a new fashion scene, a new art scene and great dining experiences.”
RwandaAir is back to its original capacity of daily flights from Dubai and four times weekly with Doha. “We are seeing a lot more interest from the Middle East into Rwanda, not just in tourism, but across other sectors like logistics, fintech and health. It was important for us to connect to some key destinations within this region, the UAE being one of them, especially Dubai.
“We are definitely looking into more investments in properties that are keen on sustainability, that have the same values as we have as a destination but we're also looking at managing what is already here.
“Prior to the pandemic, our top three markets were the USA, the UK and Germany. The GCC market is an emerging market for us, we see the interest.”
Rwanda is one of the most social-media friendly nations of Africa. This comes from a huge investment in the infrastructure development around technology, explains Mutesi. “There is internet connectivity throughout the country because the fibre optic was laid many years ago. We're also trying to be a ‘proof of concept’ country. What that means is that we are attracting tech companies and start-ups to open in Rwanda and scale up from here. There have been some interest success stories of companies that started in Rwanda and now they're branching out to different countries, including the US,” Mutesi tells TTN.